In Pakistan, trauma is a major cause of disease and disability, with the majority of affectees hailing from the younger strata of the populace.
The circumstances in Sindh are indeed more awful, as Karachi’s, its provincial capital and the 2nd Largest city in Pakistan, overextended healthcare facilities are incapable of managing the numbers of casualties witnessed daily.
An ever-growing metropolis with a staggering 47.9 million population, the city’s trauma cases are on a rise due to expanding traffic and consequent road traffic accidents as well as a steep crime rate, which is fuelled by social and geopolitical factors. Bearing this in mind, the Sindh Government with the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) chairperson, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, marked the groundbreaking ceremony of the Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Institute of Trauma (SMBBIT) on December 23rd, 2015.
The young leader was also the chief guest on the Institute’s inauguration on September 26th, 2016.
Built at a cost of Rs. 6 billion, the SMBBIT was conceived as a six-storey building, but its construction plans were amended to extend it to fourteen floors. This addition in the plan also featured a helipad to safely transport the injured from the accident site to the hospital, following the standard of trauma centres globally. At present, all the departments of the SMBBIT, except the Plastic Surgery and Burns Unit, are fully operational, while the said departments will also become operational soon. Affiliated with the Dow University of Health Sciences (DUHS), the trauma centre was upgraded to the level of an Institute on February 14th, 2019 as except for the for Orthopaedic Trauma and Emergency Medicine, all departments are accredited from the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Pakistan (CPSP) for FCPS training since May 16th, 2019.
Right Care at the Right time
In trauma care management, time is of essence in saving the patient’s life. Managing and making the most of the ‘Golden Hour’ –what the immediate period post-trauma and on the patient’s admission to the ER is often referred to- is pivotal in defining the patient’s prognosis. It is a make or break moment, and the right care at the right time makes a wealth of a difference.
When it comes to critical care in trauma management, even in the most top-notch private hospitals of Pakistan with 5-star anagement and charges, the non-availability of ventilators becomes a major issue, risking the lives of patients in need.
However; at the SMBBIT, timely triage, instant landing towards major trauma for resuscitation, in-house coverage of all relevant specialities (15 functional operation theatres), availability of life
saving equipment (58 ventilators, with an equipped ICU & HDU facility), and 24/7 presence of trained staff are all factors that help avail the golden hour after injury.
This makes a difference not only in critical care, but also in the lives of patients, their families, and ultimately plays an important role in keeping our mortality and morbidity rates as low as they are.
We treat more than 1300 critical care patients every year, and operate on 12,000 patients annually, all of whom are first channelled through our ER department and efficient triage system. Despite the numbers, our low death rate speaks for itself in terms of our time and efficacy.